Rene Ricard (July 23, 1946 – February 1, 2014) was an American poet, actor, art critic, and painter.
Biography
Early life Albert Napoleon Ricard was born in Boston and grew up in Acushnet, Massachusetts, near New Bedford. As a teenager he ran away to Boston and assimilated into the literary scene of the city. Ricard supported himself by working as a model for art classes in the Boston area. While visiting galleries on Newbury Street in 1964, he was encouraged to see an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, where he encountered one of Andy Warhol's Flowers paintings. The work made a profound impression on him; Ricard later described the experience as a turning point that inspired him to pursue a life in art.
Andy Warhol and the Factory Before moving to New York, Ricard had become familiar with Warhol through a Life magazine feature on the artist and the Factory. Believing Warhol would be receptive to him, Ricard relocated to New York City in 1965 after taking over a friend's apartment on East 6th Street. Shortly after arriving, artist Al Hansen encouraged him to visit the Factory and provided directions. Ricard walked in unannounced and met Andy Warhol, Chuck Wein, Edie Sedgwick, and Billy Name, marking the beginning of his association with Warhol's circle. He subsequently appeared in the Warhol films Kitchen (1965), Chelsea Girls (1966), and The Andy Warhol Story (1966).
Acting and literary career As a performer, Ricard was a founding participant in the Theater of the Ridiculous, collaborating with John Vaccaro and Charles Ludlam. He also appeared in the 1980 Eric Mitchell independent film Underground U.S.A. (1980), as well as numerous other independent art and commercial films.
In the 1980s, he wrote a series of influential essays for Artforum magazine. Having achieved stature in the art world by successfully launching the career of painter Julian Schnabel,Ricard, Rene. "Not about Julian Schnabel", Artforum, Summer 1981. Ricard helped bring Jean-Michel Basquiat to fame.Carlo McCormick, The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene, 1974–1984, Princeton University Press, 2006. In December 1981, he published the first major article on Basquiat and Keith Haring, entitled "The Radiant Child," in Artforum.
Ricard also contributed art essays to numerous gallery and exhibition catalogs. He was immortalized by Jean-Michel Basquiat in the drawing entitled Untitled (Axe/Rene), representing the tension that existed between the two.
Warhol called Ricard "the George Sanders of the Lower East Side, the Rex Reed of the art world."Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (ed.). The Andy Warhol Diaries. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Saturday, January 28, 1984 entry, p. 551. From the mid-1960s Ricard contributed writings to numerous independent poetry magazines and anthologies. In 1979, the Dia Art Foundation published Ricard's first book of poems, an eponymous volume styled on Tiffany & Co. catalog. The fact that the turquoise-covered book of poems appears in photographs taken on the beach in The Ballad of Sexual Dependency by Nan Goldin illustrates its ubiquity as summer reading in 1979.
His second book of poetry, God With Revolver (Hanuman Books) was published ten years later, edited by Raymond Foye. The same year he contributed poems to Francesco Clemente: Sixteen Pastels (London: Anthony D'Offay). Ricard released two other volumes of poetry: Trusty Sarcophagus Co. (Inanout Press, 1990), which featured his poems rendered in paintings and drawings and was the basis of an exhibit at the Petersburg Gallery, New York City; and Love Poems (C U Z Editions, 1999) as a collaboration with artist Robert Hawkins who provided drawings for the book. Ricard also saw publication of single-poem works as limited edition artist books: Opera of the Worms with paintings by Judy Rifka (1984), Cecil (2004), and In Daddy's Hand with artist Rita Barros (2010).
Beginning in the late 1980s Ricard's poems were often rendered in paintings and drawings. His work was the subject of several solo gallery exhibitions in the United States and United Kingdom, as well as being represented in many group exhibitions. In 2003, Percival Press published the full-color monograph Paintings & Drawings, illustrating a collection of visually rendered poems by Ricard. In 2004, Ricard created the album cover for Shadows Collide with People by musician John Frusciante.
Later life and death Ricard was portrayed by Michael Wincott in Julian Schnabel's biographical film, Basquiat (1996).
He lived at the famed Hotel Chelsea in New York City intermittently for 40 years.Levy, Ariel 'New York Storeys' The Sunday Times Magazine, March 25, 2007, pp. 40-51, see page 47.
Ricard died on February 1, 2014, of cancer at Bellevue Hospital in New York City at the age of 67.
Legacy Ricard and his work and effects were the subject of two solo posthumous exhibits at the Half Gallery in Manhattan, the latter in 2017 and a three-person show in 2025.
Before his death Ricard and the textile designer Madeline Weinrib designed five carpets together which later were realized and shown at the Emma Scully gallery.https://www.forbes.com/sites/rimasuqi/2025/05/20/the-spirit-of-rene-ricard-lives-on-in-a-new-collection-of-rugs/
Books YearTitlePublisherNotes1979Rene Ricard 1979 - 1980DIA Art FoundationEdited by Gerard Malanga1989Francesco Clemente Sixteen Pastels with Poems by Rene RicardAnthony d'Offay Gallery, LondonEdited by Raymond Foye. Exhibition catalog reproducing leaves of a handmade book by Ricard titled Buried in a Crate.1989God With Revolver: Poems 1979 - 1982Hanuman BooksPublished and edited by Raymond Foye and Francesco Clemente1990Trusty Sarchopagus Co.Inanout PressDesigned and edited by Paola Igliori and Michele Zalopany. The book was prepared concurrent with an exhibition of Ricard's painting and visual works at the Peterburg Gallery in NYC. The edition juxtaposes the photographs of the paintings and drawings with transcriptions of the poems rendered within them.1999Love PoemsCUZ EditionsDrawings by Robert Hawkins / Edited by Richard Hell2003Paintings and DrawingsPerceval PressReproductions of Ricard's visual works produced over a twenty-year period.2016Rene Ricard Notebook 2010 - 2012Morel BooksFacsimile edition of one of Ricard's composition books containing poems, collages, drawings, diary and personal notes. Published posthumously.2018Rene Ricard 1979 - 1980Éditions LutanieEdited by Manon Lutanie and Rachel Valinsky. Bilingual volume (French/English).2021Time of the DogsInnen BooksEdited by Raymond Foye. Posthumously published collection of twenty poems.2022God with RevolverEditions LutanieEdited by Manon Lutanie and Rachel Valinsky. With an introduction by Raymond Foye and an afterword by Patrick Fox. Bilingual volume (French/English).2023Deus de RevólverBarco BêbadoPortuguese edition of "God With Revolver." Translation by Luís Lima, with an introduction by Raymond Foye, and cover photos by Rita Barros.2024Love PoemsEditions LutanieWith drawings by Robert Hawkins. Bilingual edition (French/English), translated by Rachel Valinsky and Manon Lutanie. Includes a newly commissioned afterword by Robert Hawkins retracing his encounter, friendship, and collaboration with Rene Ricard.
Art reviews and essays YearTitlePublicationNotes1977Hunt Slonem and Harrison Burns at FishbachArt in America, Nov./Dec. 1977Review1978Bill Sullivan at KornbleeArt in America, Sep./Oct. 1978Review1978Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe at MillerArt in America, Sep./Oct. 1978Review1979Lynda Benglis at Paula CooperArt in America, Jan./Feb. 1979Review1979Julian Schnabel's Plate Painting at Mary BooneArt in America, Nov. 1979Review1979The Benois Madonna at KonedlerArt in America, Dec. 1979Review1979Peter Hujar at Marcuse PfeiferArt in America, Dec. 1979Review1981Not About Julian SchnabelArtforum, Summer 1981Picking up where the Art in America Schnabel review ended this essay, Ricard's first full-length, established Julian Schnabel as the premier celebrity of the new-New York art scene.